[Basic]

Are there anything shadowrun books talking about illnesses in the sixth world ?

I mean with meta humanity now are Elves immune to the flu or maybe tolls don't get the common cold ?

Also being that the comets change humans did it change viruses and other microscopic things in them ?

Are there any pandemics in the sixth world like the bird flu or worse ?

[Mirikon]

See all references to VITAS.

[CitizenJoe]

That is Viral Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome.  Does that mean that it makes you allergic to toxins (more so that usual)?  Or does it give you an allergy syndrome which is toxic? 

[redwolf]

the 2

[CitizenJoe]

Has anyone explored the implication of that?

[Mirikon]

Mostly they've been trying not to die when it swept through the world like the Black Death three times. There may have been some research into the hows and whys, but two computer crashes and 'oh crap there are dragons now' have probably buried it deep.

[CitizenJoe]

Notice how Devil Rats are immune but carriers.  Rats can't vomit, which is why they are so easily poisoned.   I suspect that this may be the basis for the VITAS  disease.  But the key thing here is that it was 1) broad based virus and 2) it induced an allergic response.  That means the viral mechanism can use a wide variety of hosts, which makes culturing very easy.  It also means that it can fundamentally change the human immuno-response system.  While its current version affects it adversely, that doesn't mean it can't be modified to have beneficial effects.  Properly tailored, such a virus can be very useful and inexpensive to produce.

[Reaver]

Notice how Devil Rats are immune but carriers.  Rats can't vomit, which is why they are so easily poisoned.   I suspect that this may be the basis for the VITAS  disease.  But the key thing here is that it was 1) broad based virus and 2) it induced an allergic response.  That means the viral mechanism can use a wide variety of hosts, which makes culturing very easy.  It also means that it can fundamentally change the human immuno-response system.  While its current version affects it adversely, that doesn't mean it can't be modified to have beneficial effects.  Properly tailored, such a virus can be very useful and inexpensive to produce.

And weaponized.
Just WHAT was aztecnology making up on the space station? And what other corps are messing around with biologicals? Scary stuff, biological weapons. they work great in the lab for 10000 things the egg-heads thought of but the moment they are released, mother nature throws a curveball that them. Suddenly their 'inert after 72hrs vitas' IIIa strain is now 'inert after 72 months and 30% world wide causalites'

[Mirikon]

Other nasty things that were originally supposed to be 'controlled' bugs:

FAB III - Was supposed to die off in a few days. Ended up feeding on the local astral, and there are still some clouds around today.

Crash Worm - The thing that started off the original Crash. Little bugger was unleashed on a corp to test its effectiveness. Turns out the thing decided it didn't want to stop after destroying the core servers of that one corp.

[CanRay]

Crash Worm - The thing that started off the original Crash. Little bugger was unleashed on a corp to test its effectiveness. Turns out the thing decided it didn't want to stop after destroying the core servers of that one corp.

Crash Virus was in the original Crash of 2029.

The Crash Worm was in Crash 2.0, and was named Jörmungandr.  FastJack taught it to heel.

[Kontact]

Augmentation pages 129-134.

Rules for viruses, ailments, and biowarfare agents.

All nasty, all the time. 

[CanRay]

Including another reason to practice safe sex!